Tough times shred gains from lettuce crop

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Lindenow vegetable grower Bill Bulmer has had to battle on through floods and drought.Picture:John Woudstra

The drought may be over, but that's not much consolation for Bill Bulmer as he contemplates what has been a remarkable decade on the land.

The East Gippsland farmer grows vegetables on the Mitchell River flats at Lindenow, not far from Bairnsdale, and is certainly no whinger.

But since the early 1990s, Mr Bulmer has experienced two major floods, a minor flood, a back-breaking drought, and storms that have devastated crops.

"Living on the river flat, you expect the occasional big flood - but not two big ones in a decade," he said.

Particularly devastating was the 1998 flood, which came just as he was emerging from the 1997-98 drought. "Ninety-eight was bigger in some places than 1990, and that was already a one-in-a-hundred-year flood.

"At the same time, it's been the driest period people can remember, particularly the last half of the decade."

On Christmas Eve 2001, a hailstorm "ripped the place apart", and the following year was marked by an El Nino dry, which meant the farm could not be irrigated for 55 days.

Mr Bulmer supplies lettuces to Vegco, a big vegetable processor based in Bairnsdale. He is one of about 50 growers in Lindenow, and estimates the horticulture industry is worth about $40 million to the local economy.

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About 50-60 per cent of the crop on Mr Bulmer's 70-hectare property is lettuces - he plants 100,000 lettuces a week - about 30 per cent broccoli and the rest sweet corn. The planting and harvesting cycles are co-ordinated during the year.

Apart from Vegco, Mr Bulmer also supplies lettuces to McDonald's and Hungry Jack's. "We get a contract price for lettuce. That keeps us honest," he said.

The sweet corn is exported to Japan, which makes it a tough crop to harvest. "The sweet corn have to be picked by hand to ensure there's no bruising and no grubs. The Japanese are perfectionists," he said.

At $1.2 million, we should get a really good living, but it has varied from $300,000 to $900,000 in recent years. BILL BULMER, farmer

This year, an early dry spring, a lot of wind and late frosts have cut back the lettuce crop by about a third.

Mr Bulmer's turnover in a good year would vary from $1.2-$1.4 million, which is why the unusual weather setbacks have been so frustrating.

"At $1.2 million, we should get a really good living, but it has varied from $300,000 to $900,000 in recent years," he said.

The bad years of drought and flood do not just mean lost income for a year. "The debt kills us. You still have to borrow money to keep going - that's the hard part," he said.

In the meantime, the planted crop still has to be harvested. "People still want to eat their lettuce," Mr Bulmer said.